On Friday, as I drove back from my southern California office north on I-5, I witnessed it firsthand seeing for myself what many are now calling the Congress-created Dust Bowl.
Of course, global warming obsessed media, when they bother to report this dire situation, typically blame the problem on California's drought.
Fortunately, Fox News viewers know the truth, as on Friday, for the second time in two months (see Brad Wilmouth's "FNC: Drought-Stricken Farmers Lose Fight for Water to Endangered Fish"), Sean Hannity informed the nation what the real cause is -- the Endangered Species Act and a federal judge's decision in August 2007 to save a little-known fish called the Delta smelt (video embedded below the fold):
As the Associated Press reported in September 2007, one federal judge is at the heart of this crisis:
A federal judge on Friday imposed limits on water flows caused by huge pumps sending water from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River delta to users around the state, saying the pumps were drawing in and destroying a threatened fish.
The judge, Oliver Wanger of Federal District Court, said pressure from the pumps helped reverse the natural direction of water within the estuary, damaging habitat and killing delta smelt, a fish that experts say might be on the brink of extinction.
“The evidence is uncontradicted that these project operations move the fish,” the judge said. Under the ruling, limits would be put in place from the end of December, when the fish are about to spawn, until June, when young fish can move into areas with better habitat and more food.
Bear in mind that we're not talking about a dam for electricity, or offshore oil rigs. We're talking about our food supply, and a judge actually decided that a two-inch minnow is more important.
Before you ask why you should care about this if you don't live in California, consider that the Golden State is home to nine of the nation's ten largest farming counties. It supplies over half of the country's fruits, nuts and vegetables and over 90 percent of our almonds, artichokes, avocados, broccoli and processing tomatoes. As measured by cash value, grapes, lettuce and almonds are California's biggest crops.
As such, unless something is done soon, Americans could find themselves buying more and more imported produce at significantly higher prices and with far less pesticide control.
Despite this, with the exception of FNC, television news organizations have given very little attention to the Delta smelt.
According to LexisNexis, CNN and MSNBC have never mentioned this fish. Ditto NBC. CBS and ABC have mentioned it once.
As this is an issue that could end up impacting virtually every American, one has to wonder why.
